The Santa Barbara Museum of Art has announced the newest members of its Board of Trustees for 2017-18 are David Gersh, Christine Vanderbilt Holland, Sarah Vedder and Bruce Worster. Kenneth Anderson returns to the board after a one-year hiatus.

The members, whose terms began on July 1, will work under the leadership of Board Chair John C. Bishop Jr.

Anderson is a retired partner of the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he practiced employment law, representing management for 34 years and ran the firm’s Los Angeles office.

He still oversees the firm’s worldwide art collection, which was started in the early 1980s and includes some 700 works ranging from California landscape art to New York- and London-based contemporary art.

Anderson was first elected to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Board of Trustees in 2005, served as vice chair in 2009 and 2010, and chair from 2011-15. He has also been a member of the museum’s finance, collections and development committees.

Gersh spent 36 years practicing corporate and securities law, negotiating, structuring and executing corporate transactions. He is a retired partner of Paul Hastings international law firm.

Gersh participated on behalf of Frank Sinatra in the sale of Warner Bros. Studios to Kinney National Corp. to create what is now Time Warner.

He is a past member of the executive committee of the business law section of the State Bar of California; chairman emeritus of the board of directors of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; and past president of the Los Angeles Hillel Council.

Gersh received his BS and MBA degrees from UCLA, and his JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Gersh is a published poet and award-winning author of four mystery books. He and his wife, Anne, are art collectors.

Holland is a former attorney who worked in civil litigation with several Los Angeles firms, where her specialties included insurance bad faith defense and professional liability defense. She has lived in Santa Barbara since 1996.

She retired from law and, for the past 15 years, has pursued a variety of activities in Santa Barbara, with her chief area of interest being in the visual arts and art history, with a focus on SBMA.

Holland was a member of the SBMA Women’s Board for three years, then joined the museum Docent Council where she’s volunteered as a docent for 12 years and has served as adult tour chair, vice president and president.

She was named Docent of the Year in 2015.

Holland has been on the steering committee for SBMA’s Museum Collectors’ Council for nine years. She served on the Ensemble Theatre Board, acting as president during the time of funding and construction of the New Vic Theatre.

She recently was elected to the Opera Santa Barbara Board and is a supporter of the Music Academy of the West.
 
Vedder was born in Denver, but spent her childhood in Seattle, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She attended Colorado College and majored in art.

For 31 years, she has been a member of the OAK Group, an association of landscape painters that works with conservation organizations on land preservation projects. Since 2002, she’s been represented by Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara.

Her volunteer work in Santa Barbara County began with the Santa Barbara Junior League. In addition, Vedder has served on the board of the Art Affiliates at UCSB, including time as president.

She is a sustaining member of the Braille Institute Auxiliary of Santa Barbara and of the Lobero Theatre Associates.

Worster is a private investor and advisor with 30 years experience in high-technology product and business development. In 2001, he retired as a vice president of JDS-Uniphase Corp.

Before the merger of Uniphase Corp. and JDS Fitel, Worster was founder/chief technical officer and, ultimately, president of Ultrapointe Corp., a subsidiary of Uniphase.

After retirement, Worster was a director of Zygo Corp. from 2002-10 and chairman from 2009-10. He is a graduate of Harvey Mudd College, and holds a Ph.D. in physics from UCSB and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Currently, he is a trustee of Harvey Mudd College and a member of the UCSB dean of science’s advisory cabinet, and, with his wife Susan, a member of the Getty Museum’s Photographs Council.

Worster was a trustee of the San Jose Museum of Art from 2012-15. Worster and his wife are collectors of vintage and contemporary photography.

— Katrina Carl for Santa Barbara Museum of Art.